Strike on aid ves­sel

Arab coali­tion con­demns at­tack on UAE ship

The Arab coali­tion has con­demned an at­tack on an Emi­rati ship that was said to have been car­ry­ing aid and civil­ians to and from the Ye­meni port of Aden.

The cata­ma­ran-style ves­sel, named Swift, was tar­geted by Houthi mili­tia as it sailed in the Bab Al Mandab Strait in the early hours of Satur­day morn­ing, a re­port by UAE na­tional news agency WAM stated.

The Com­mand of Coali­tion Forces said the strike was a “dan­ger­ous in­di­ca­tion” of “ter­ror­ist op­er­a­tions” in the area, WAM re­ported.

It did not state what was fired, or how badly the Swift was dam­aged, but said “Coali­tion air and naval forces started chas­ing and tar­get­ing boats which car­ried out the at­tack”.

The com­mand said it launched an op­er­a­tion at 12.30am on Satur­day to res­cue civil­ian pas­sen­gers. It added that the ves­sel was owned by the UAE’s Na­tional Ma­rine Dredg­ing Com­pany.

WAM quoted the coali­tion com­mand as say­ing the ship was on a rou­tine trip to and from Aden to de­liver re­lief aid and evac­u­ate wounded civil­ians.

Yes­ter­day, the Ye­men gov­ern­ment said in a state­ment that “this is a ter­ror­ist at­tack that vi­o­lates in­ter­na­tional laws”.

It added: “It is also a clear vi­o­la­tion of hu­man­ity and a fla­grant ag­gres­sion against life.”